


Grandpa Jack

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: Gibbs' Family [80]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Age Play, Arguing, Bed-Wetting, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nightmares, Non-Sexual Age Play, What Have I Done, and also 80 parts through, we're three years into this behemoth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 00:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Timmy wakes up in the middle of the night in Stillwater. Of course, Jackson finds out about the team's little secret. And of course, it throws everything in their world upside down.Congrats to three years on theGibbs' Familyuniverse!





	Grandpa Jack

**Author's Note:**

> Guys. Three years. Three whole years, I've been working on this story. That's the longest I've worked on any fanfiction project, and maybe any project ever. I can't thank you enough for your support. There's some sad news in the ending notes, but I wanted to thank you all from the bottom of my heart somewhere, so we're doing this from the top. A special thank-you to jenval3277, for suggesting this probably about two years ago, minimum, and waiting patiently for Jackson's introduction. I haven't forgotten about that!

Timmy woke up in a room he didn't recognize with a gasp. He didn't know what he had dreamed about, but he knew it was bad, because he was shaking and crying and in a wet Pull-Up. He wiped at his eyes and looked around. Ziva was asleep on an air mattress across the room, and he needed comfort, but he didn't want to wake her. He wanted Papa.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he slinked out of the room and into the hall. It was almost pitch black, the only light coming from moonlight and stars that streamed through the windows and cast malformed shadows everywhere. He looked around. Obviously Papa's room was somewhere in this hall, he had remembered Papa sulking into one of the rooms that Jackson had referred to as "your old mess". But which one was it?

He decided to start with the door across the hall, and was greeted with what looked like stairs leading to an attic. He shook his head and closed the door, wandering down the hall and opening the door at the absolute end. Inside was a bathroom. He supposed that was the next best thing to Papa; having a place to clean up. He was glad that Papa kept Pull-Ups in his go bag, because otherwise this could have ended badly. Timmy took one step into the bathroom and the floor creaked like a dying cat. Jumping a foot into the air, Timmy whirled around to see if anyone was going to inspect the noise. Finding no one, Timmy took another step into the bathroom, this one thankfully silent. 

He approached the sink, and turned it on, scooping water with his hands and splashing it on his face. Taking a deep breath he straightened up and glared at himself in the mirror, willing himself to stop crying. "I doubt glowering at yourself is going to do anything useful, son," a voice said.

Nearly wetting himself again, Timmy whirled around to find Jackson standing at the edge of the bathroom. "I know this old house well enough to know when someone is up and about in the middle of the night," Jackson said. "I thought you heard me coming down the hallway."

Timmy couldn't say anything. If he spoke, Jackson would know something was wrong. He had the same sort of stare Papa did, the one that could dissect you at a moment's notice. He just swallowed and shook his head.

Jackson took a step into the bathroom, ignoring the creaking floor. "Are you all right, son?"

Timmy willed himself to nod. But no matter how much he wanted it to happen, his head wouldn't listen to him. He stood there, stock-still, frozen in time. Jackson walked up to Timmy, examining him. "Would you like to go downstairs?" he asked gently.

"Uh..." Timmy cringed inwardly. He used his little voice, which was definitely not good, and he couldn't even form a sentence. He shrugged.

Jackson gently turned him toward the door and lead him out through the hallway and down the stairs into the general shop area. Timmy looked around, frowning. What were they going to do down here?

Ignoring his guest's confusion, Jackson Gibbs settled at the table close to the door and lifted up his newspaper. He finally glanced at Timmy. "Well? Take a seat, young man."

Shocked, and more than a little confused at this turn of events, Timmy sat down next to Jackson. The man picked up his reading glasses and started to read the paper aloud, pointing at the words to Timmy as he read them. Timmy could read them too, of course, but Jackson's voice was soothing, so he said nothing, instead opting to follow along silently.

They had finished the main article about a local arrest of a poacher and were moving to the high school science fair winners when there were footsteps behind Timmy. Turning, he found Papa squinting at him and Jackson, yawning. "It's four AM," he said by way of greeting.

"Leroy," Jackson scolded, and Timmy snickered for half a second before Papa sent him a warning glance. "Your boy was crying in my bathroom. And while I am all for having more grandkids, I was under the impression that he was supposed to be an adult until I asked him if he was all right and he just stared blankly at me."

"So...you decided to read the paper to him?" Papa asked.

"It helped you when you would have a nightmare as a little boy," Jackson dismissed. "I figured just having a voice to focus on would help."

Papa kneaded his forehead. "Why didn't you just wake me up? I could have dealt with him."

"I figured he was looking for you the second I saw him looking through the hallway. But you need rest, Leroy. You're only human like the rest of us."

"How...exactly did you know he wasn't in an adult state of mind?" Papa asked, walking over and sitting down on the other side of Jackson and grabbing one of Timmy's hands. He rubbed Timmy's knuckles in the way that said he would be there for as long as he was needed.

"All I needed was the lost look in his eyes and the different way he spoke to piece it together. You got your sharp mind somewhere after all. And as smart as your mother was, I'm not an idiot either," Jackson said with a shrug.

Papa looked over at Timmy, but continued addressing Jackson. "Has he said anything since you've seen him?"

"No actual words. The closest he got was 'uh' when I asked him a question. Does this happen often?" Jackson asked.

"Only after a particularly bad nightmare," Papa said. "You can sit on my lap if you need to, kiddo."

Timmy promptly got up and walked around the table, sitting on Papa's lap and resting his head on the man's shoulder. He sighed, hoping against hope that he might fall asleep soon. He needed it with the case they were on.

"How did this come about?" Jackson asked.

Papa sighed. "Found out about it from one of my other agents. Then this one was informed of the situation and it turned out he needed it too. It's...complicated."

"Not really," Timmy mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Tony told you, you told Katie, Katie and Tony and you told me. 'S not that hard."

Papa chuckled. "Well, when you put it like that..." Papa trailed off and hummed in thought. "Timmy?"

Timmy lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes again. "Hm?"

"Do you need to...you know?"

"Hm? Oh," Timmy said, realizing Papa was talking about changing into a fresh Pull-Up. "Yeah, I think so."

"Go get that done while the grown-ups talk? We'll be right here when you come back," Papa promised.

Timmy nodded and stood, before frowning. "Where's your room? That's where the bag is."

"Right next to yours," Papa said, amused. "You didn't think to check there?"

Timmy felt his cheeks heat up. "I was gonna 'ventually."

"Just not...now," Papa supplied.

Timmy made his way to the stairs. "Shut up," he mumbled.

Papa chuckled the whole time Timmy was going up the stairs, but when he was wandering the halls an indistinct murmur came from below the floorboards. Timmy quickly grabbed a fresh Pull-Up from Papa's room and went to the bathroom to change, putting the old one at the bottom of the trash bin, and skulked his way to the bottom of the steps, hoping to hear some of the conversation.

"--Can't believe that you never told me this of all things, Leroy!"

"Dad, it was something private," Papa insisted. "Both of them are embarrassed about it. I didn't exactly want to call you for the first time in twenty-something years and say, 'Hey, I accidentally adopted a few kids and oh by the way they also work for me so if you could not tell anyone especially my boss that would be great!'"

"But if I had known--"

"You would have done what, huh? What would you have done?" Papa asked, raising his voice. "Stuck your nose in our business where it doesn't belong? Visit me when they're over and make them nervous? Neither of them had a good childhood the first time around, I don't want their second one to be worse!"

Timmy bit back a whimper and forced himself to listen more, but there was silence. "...Timothy, it's not polite to eavesdrop," Jackson said.

Honestly, Timmy thought he had been quieter than that. He shuffled into view and rubbed the back of his neck. Papa looked worried, while Jackson betrayed not one thought in his head. "Sorry," Timmy mumbled. "I can go back to bed."

"That's not necessary, son, not yet," Jackson said. "I think someone at the very least owes you an apology first."

Papa glared at Jackson. "My point made," he growled.

"Leroy, you're scaring the boy sick!" Jackson protested. "Do you honestly believe that your pride is more important than your family?!"

Papa glared at Jackson silently. Timmy looked between the two. This was a battle between giants, and he didn't have a clue who might win. He shifted. He really wished he had his baby blanket. Papa looked over at him and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong, kiddo?"

Timmy's cheeks heated up. He was okay with Jackson knowing the basics of what happened after hours, but admitting that he wanted his blanket in front of the man was just...not good, in his opinion. He shook his head. "Nothin'."

"Doesn't look like nothing," Papa noted.

Timmy shrugged. "'M tired. Jus' wanna go to bed."

Papa opened his mouth to speak, but Jackson beat him to the punch. "It's not nice to lie, young man."

Timmy paled a little and flexed his fingers. Papa growled. "You're making him feel worse."

"You're not helping, either," Jackson shot back.

"Please stop," Timmy said quietly. Both men turned to him and he shrunk back. "I...I just wanna go to bed and sleep without another nightmare. I looked for you," he said, turning to Papa, "And couldn't find you. So Jackson took me down here and just read to me, like you do sometimes when I get woken up like this. And then you come down and you're fighting lots. All I want is to not have another nightmare..." Timmy could feel tears coming to his eyes and he didn't care. "I just want my blanket and I want Tony here or us at home and I don't want another family to be broken because of me!"

There was silence in the house and Timmy went over what he said, a look of shock creeping up on even his own face. Since when did he admit that his family falling apart was all his fault? He tried taking a step back, only to hit the doorway and jump a foot in the air. He was starting to cry now, and honestly, he just want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment. He walked around the door and up the steps, back to the bedroom he was sharing with Ziva, and crawled under the sheets, pulling them over his head. Not long after, he could hear someone at the door, and they moved into the room. Ziva stirred. "...Gibbs? Is something wrong?"

"Timmy is having a bad night, and apparently decided he was done talking," Papa sighed. "It's all right, you can go back to sleep."

Ziva rolled over on the air mattress, and immediately her snoring filled the room. Papa came closer to the bed Timmy was hiding in, and sat on the side. Timmy slid into Papa's back, but he didn't give any indication of being startled. Papa rubbed his back, and Timmy just felt his tears fall faster, because Papa is here, Papa can fix this but you're the one who ruined it for him, he can't fix you without making everything worse. "Timmy, can you come out, please?"

Timmy didn't respond. He knew Papa knew he was awake, but even shaking his head was giving in too much at this point.

"I'm not going to ask again, kiddo. Either you come out from under the blankets or you sleep alone tonight."

You're doing him a favor you're doing him a favor you're doing him a favor, his brain insisted. So he didn't even remove a finger from his cocoon.

Papa sighed and pat him on the back. "All right, then, kiddo. I'll see you in the morning. I'm sorry if I scared you. There's something on the bed that I think might help."

After Timmy was sure Papa left the room, he poked his head out and looked at the item Papa had apparently left for him.

His blanket.

Timmy curled in a protective ball around it and cried until he fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, when Timmy woke up, he considered just going home right away, and tag-teaming with DiNozzo on coming up here so that at least one person on the team could get work done. But then he remembered he came up here with Papa, so he got out of bed, not bothering to get dressed, and silently walked out and downstairs, where there was already a bowl of cereal waiting for him...next to Papa, and across from Jackson, who were both reading parts of the paper. He swallowed. He had to sit down like nothing was wrong and act like he wasn't thinking of leaving.

Timmy sat down and grabbed the spoon sitting in the cereal bowl, pushing the cereal around until the milk in the bowl started to change color. Once he deemed it an acceptable discoloration, he put a spoonful in his mouth. Almost immediately, he thought he might be sick. He swallowed it anyway and tried not to gasp for air too loudly afterward. He forced himself to eat a few more bites before getting up and going back upstairs, curling up in a ball on the bed. The only way he was going to get up was...A honk came from outside the house. Timmy looked up. Was if DiNozzo was here.

Throwing his shoes on, Timmy tore through the house and outside, to find DiNozzo getting out of his car. He launched himself at the man and DiNozzo chuckled. "Easy, kid, what happened to make you so excited to see me?"

"I screwed up, Tony," Timmy mumbled into DiNozzo's shirt. "You know the thing I said I'd never tell Papa?"

"The family thing? Yeah, why?"

"I accidentally said it last night. Now I think everyone wants to 'talk' with me." Timmy clung to DiNozzo for dear life. "Please-oh-please-just-take-me-home."

"You're gonna have to talk to Papa if you go home too, kid," DiNozzo reasoned.

"No I don't!" Timmy said, looking at DiNozzo for the first time during the hug. "I can apply for a transfer somewhere else, and we could Skype and Papa would never have to know, and there's no way I could ruin the rest of his family ever!"

"Kid, that's not how this works," DiNozzo said, rubbing Timmy's back. "Do you wanna talk about it away from Papa?"

Timmy nodded.

"Then that's what we'll do. Go inside and grab your blanket, because I know Gibbs would have packed it if there was a chance you'd be staying up here the night, and then we can walk and talk."

"'Kay," Timmy said, running back inside, up the stairs, into the room. He grabbed his blanket, ran down the stairs and out the front door, and jumped to a stop in front of DiNozzo.

"Let's walk, kid," DiNozzo said, tilting his head down the street.

The two of them walked in the relative silence of the early morning streets. After they were a few blocks from the store, DiNozzo started talking. "Okay. So. Obviously you told Gibbs the one thing you said you'd never tell him. Probably in the heat of the moment, right?" At Timmy's nod, DiNozzo continued. "Do you want to talk about what led up to it? Chances are we could figure out a plan based on that."

Timmy shrugged. "Y'know how some families fight over little things lots?"

"Yeah. Is that was Gibbs and his dad were doing?"

"Mm-hm," Timmy hummed. "They were fighting all day, being passive-aggressive and stuff. Then last night I had a nightmare, and while I was looking for Papa, Jackson found me, and he took me downstairs and read to me. And it was nice, but then Papa heard the noise and came downstairs, and they started fighting over Jackson trying to help. And I left 'cause I had to change, you know? Like after most of my nightmares. And when I came back down Papa was yelling, and Jackson was mad at him for yelling, and I just wanted them to stop and--"

"You lost your filter?" Tony cut in.

Timmy sighed and nodded, gripping his blanket tight in his hands. "They just fight. So much. And it's my fault."

DiNozzo looked over at him and Timmy looked at the ground. "You know how you'd help me when I got nightmares while Papa was away, and tell me that it was just a dream, or that any mistakes weren't my fault?"

Timmy nodded.

"I'm gonna return the favor today," DiNozzo said, hugging Timmy. "They would have fought over anything. You said yourself that's what was going on. They were looking for a fight, and you happened to get caught in the crossfire. You didn't ruin their family. If what you said is true, odds are they've been fighting for years, way, way before you got a nightmare last night."

"Everyone's gonna wanna 'talk' to me, though," Timmy said. "What do I say if they try and blame me?"

"Do you honestly believe that's something that Papa would do? Or his dad?"

Timmy shuddered as a sob made its way from his lungs out into the open. "I don't know!" he exclaimed. "Daddy never showed if he was gonna be mean to me later if I did something wrong in front of guests, and he'd be nice to me then, too! How'm I supposed to know what Papa'd do?!"

"Okay, okay!" DiNozzo said, holding him tighter. "You don't have to. Ssh. I'm sorry I said it like that. Would it make you feel better if I'm with you if everyone tries to sit you down and talk to you?"

Timmy nodded.

"Then that's where I'll be. I won't leave your side until then, not even to pee, okay?"

Timmy giggled. "You have to pee sometimes, Tony."

"I can hold it," Tony said with a smirk as he stepped out of the hug.

"Not for forever!" Timmy said.

"Yes for forever!" Tony shot back.

"No!" Timmy laughed. "There's no way!"

Tony chuckled and ruffled Timmy's hair. "Well, then I'll just pee when Papa isn't around to bug either of us. Unless you'd like to go in the bathroom with me?"

"Ewww!" Timmy squealed, laughing. "No way! I don't wanna watch you pee!"

"Then let's just head back, and I won't leave you alone with anyone until we're clear on how everyone is going to respond, sound good?" Tony said.

Timmy nodded, grip on his blanket loosening slightly. DiNozzo grinned and walked him back to the shop, where Papa was already half way out the door and yelling at Jackson. Timmy slowed his pace until DiNozzo was slightly in front of him and without any prompting, DiNozzo grabbed one of Timmy's hands and moved closer. Papa looked up and paused mid-shout when he saw the two of them. Of course, that only lasted half a second, as he then chose to yell at them. "DiNozzo! McGee! What did you think you were doing?!"

DiNozzo gave Timmy's hand a squeeze and Timmy took that as his signal to stay silent. "We were just taking a look around, boss," DiNozzo said with a shrug. "Did you need us for something?"

There was no verbal response from Papa, but he was working his jaw and taking deep breaths. Timmy was ready to bolt. DiNozzo, however, was undeterred. "Any chance I can get some breakfast, boss? I didn't get to eat on the road."

Papa glared at DiNozzo. Jackson came out of the store and blinked in surprise. "Hello, I don't believe we've met," he said to DiNozzo. "You wouldn't happen to be Tony?"

"Anthony DiNozzo Junior, the one and only," DiNozzo said, tilting his head to the side. "You've heard about me?"

"Well, Tim here seemed to speak of you fondly yesterday...when he was speaking."

"You've been nonverbal recently?" DiNozzo asked, turning to Timmy.

Timmy covered half his face with his blanket and shrugged. He really didn't want to talk about it.

DiNozzo sighed. "Okay, point made," he teased, turning back to Jackson. "And you're...Jackson? Tim called me and Abby yesterday and explained a few things."

"Nice to meet you, son," Jackson said, walking over and shaking Tony's free hand. "I don't suppose you'd like to get breakfast by yourself? Leroy and I need to sort some things out with Timothy here, privately."

"I'd rather have Tim with me, actually," DiNozzo said. "He's real skittish today, and I don't want him skittish, and potentially around loud noises, alone, with a gun, if you get where I'm going with this."

Jackson nodded understandingly. "We do need to speak to him, though..."

"I'm sure anything you say to him can be said in front of me," DiNozzo said with a shrug. "Even if it's to gripe about how he wets the bed. Found that one out the hard way."

"Did not!" Timmy objected.

DiNozzo turned to him and grinned, and Timmy glared at him. "I didn't pee when we were sharing a bed," Timmy repeated.

"Should we go inside? I'm hungry," DiNozzo said, pretending to be oblivious to Timmy.

Timmy sighed. "Sure," he mumbled.

DiNozzo grinned at him again and dragged him inside. "Ooh, cereal!" he exclaimed, going over to the table where Papa and Jackson had been sitting.

"You can have it," Timmy said. "'M not hungry."

"This was yours?" DiNozzo asked. "Kid, you barely ate any of it if you ate any at all. I couldn't tell anyone had even touched it."

Timmy shrugged. DiNozzo looked at him, worried, and pulled up a chair next to the one in front of the cereal. "Sit," he instructed.

At Timmy's hesitation, DiNozzo pushed him onto the seat. "Kid, you have to eat."

"Feel sick," Timmy defended.

"No excuses," DiNozzo said. "I've been down that road, you're not going down it too. Here," he spooned out some cereal. "Have one bite?"

Timmy glared at him but opened his mouth and DiNozzo put the spoon in. Timmy sucked the cereal and milk off the spoon and DiNozzo took it out. "That's good, kid. Can you manage another?" DiNozzo asked.

"I guess..." Timmy mumbled.

They went like this for half an hour, DiNozzo feeding Timmy cereal until the bowl was empty. At that point, Papa and Jackson had come back in the store and were working on restocking the shelves. Ziva had come downstairs and eaten breakfast of her own, so she was entertaining herself by reading a book she had brought. DiNozzo cleared his throat softly. "Ziva," he prompted.

Ziva glanced up at him.

"Would you be willing to come upstairs with us?" he asked softly, tilting his head at Timmy. "We need to discuss a few things."

Ziva sighed and put her book down. "Fine," she said, standing up.

Timmy stood up too and DiNozzo lead all of them up the stairs and into the closest room, which happened to be the guest room. He sat Timmy down on the bed and then sat next to the boy, and Ziva sat on the other side of Timmy without prompting, after closing the bedroom door. The hair on the back of Timmy's neck stood on end. "I don't wanna not have the talk with Papa just so you two give it to me!" he protested.

"Timmy, you haven't been able to age up all morning," DiNozzo pointed out. "That's a problem, and one that needs fixing quickly."

"Tony told me what you told him while you were eating, love," Ziva added. "I do think that it needs to be talked about."

Timmy shook his head. "No, I don't wanna."

"Kid, we're not gonna accuse you of anything, or blame you for anything, or even get mad over anything, okay? We're just gonna calmly talk about why you said what you did."

"I said it 'cause it's true," Timmy said, staring at the ground. "I always screw everything up."

"Jackson and Gibbs having a dogfight is not your fault, Timmy," Ziva said.

"Catfight," DiNozzo and Timmy said on reflex. "Yes it is," Timmy continued. "If I hadn't had a nightmare then they wouldn't have been fighting about Papa telling him about me and everyone might be getting along a little better. I should've just toughened up and gone back to bed."

"Wrong," DiNozzo said. "I know you don't like me doing that to you, but you're dead wrong, kid. That's not how any of this works. And if you need comfort after a bad one, or even a not-so-bad one, you should be able to get it. It's Gibbs' fault that he saw Jackson being the one to help as a problem."

Timmy shook his head. "Grown-ups aren't ever the problem," he stated. "It's rotten kids like me."

"Your father was wrong in saying that to you, and don't pretend he didn't," Ziva said firmly. "Adults make mistakes all the time. I have, you have, Tony has, Gibbs and his father have, we all have. And that is not to mention any of our parents. If those mistakes lead to problems, then grown-ups do cause problems, yes?"

Timmy faltered. Ziva was using logic against him, and as much as he resented that, it was also reassuring. "I guess..."

Ziva smiled. "Then that means that your father was wrong. If he was wrong about that, he could be wrong about other things, such as needing to 'toughen up' after a nightmare. Understand? You are working off of flawed logic, love. Everything your father said, you can now bring into question."

Timmy blinked. Turned to look at Ziva, then to DiNozzo, who merely nodded. He stared at the floor. Then, he started to laugh. "Why didn't anyone tell me this years ago?!" He looked around excitedly. "That means Papa could be right about me not being a waste of space, or for it to be okay to stim in front of others, or even...even...that people don't have to work to love someone, only work on the relationship itself!"

"All of those things are true, kid," DiNozzo said. "And this means that you are also allowed to ask Papa for proof of what he says, because he makes mistakes too. But your father definitely made some mistakes, which means everything he says should be taken with at least a grain of salt, if not a mountain."

Timmy laughed and flapped his hands excitedly. "That also means that when you guys say you like me, you really, really mean it!"

DiNozzo chuckled. "It only took you five years to come to that conclusion?"

Ziva stood and punched DiNozzo in the shoulder. "That was not funny," she simply said, despite Timmy still laughing. "This is a serious breakthrough."

Timmy beamed when Ziva ruffled his hair. "We are proud of you, love."

"Thanks! Oh! Tony!" Timmy said, turning to the man.

"Yeah, kid?" he asked.

"Would you be okay if we had a grandpa? 'Cause Jackson's really nice and I think he wants to come over sometimes, and Papa was making a mistake by saying that I would be nervous around him, but I wanted to know if he was making a mistake with you, too."

DiNozzo blinked. "Of course I'd be fine with it. Why wouldn't I be?"

Timmy jumped off the bed and spun around the room. "Papa made a mista-ake! Papa made a mista-ake!" he sang.

"All right, that's enough," Jackson said, opening the door. "Leroy meant well enough."

Timmy stood still, but continued to laugh under his breath.

"Where is the boss?" DiNozzo asked.

"He saw me opening the door and bolted to his room to not get caught eavesdropping," Jackson laughed. "But he did smile when he heard Tim realize that adults are fallible. How long have you been working on that one?"

"Since he joined the team, pretty much," DiNozzo said. "It's nice that he finally knows."

"Indeed it is," Jackson said dryly. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get to know my grandsons a bit better."

DiNozzo did a double take and turned to look accusingly at Timmy. Timmy held up his hands. "You lied and told him I wet the bed when you were in it! That's way worse!"

"Fair enough," DiNozzo said, sighing. He tilted his head to the side and it was clear that it was Tony who said next, "But it was funny."

Timmy shoved him and Tony grinned, shoving right back. Jackson cleared his throat and gave them a look, which instantly froze both of them. "Sorry, Grandpa Jack," Tony said.

Timmy nodded in agreement, but smiled when he saw Jackson turn away with a grin on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay. Thank you all for reading this far, I can't believe that we've gone this long with only one hiatus on my part. But that hiatus is still in action. And though I don't _need_ to give you all a reason if I can't, I feel that I owe you a small one.  
> This series was supposed to be canon-compliant, by and large, with a few tweaks here and there. But with the direction canon has been taking, it's been hard on me to keep all that enthusiasm that I had for this series alive. If you've seen the ending of Season 16, you'll know what I'm talking about, even if you don't agree with my upset, and if you haven't, well, sooner or later it'll become clear.  
> It's especially hard for me to write Ziva nowadays, and while I know I don't need to include her in every (or any) story I write, it's hard to go through without mentioning her. I enjoyed her earlier seasons, but as time went on I had a harder time sympathizing with her. I want to continue the series, and introduce Bishop, and give Timmy the recovery arc he deserves, but it's hard to keep this canon-compliant as time goes on and I just...don't agree with canon.  
> I'm open to suggestions on what you think I should do, either sticking with what I had originally planned and keep to canon, just stopping when canon diverges from what I want, or just ignoring canon when it contradicts what I have planned. But until I know what I'm going to do, this series will be on hiatus as I try to find the excitement that drove me in the beginning.  
> This became a bit of an essay, so thank you for reading through that mess. Thank you all for going through these three years with me, and feel free to comment what you think I should do below. I value your opinions very much, and I look forward to seeing you again (eventually)!


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